Three weeks before the events from chapter 102 and 103.

The moon was only a bright smudge behind the clouds in the night sky when Wagner exited André Turtelli’s, the Geneva’s First Minister, mountain mansion. Stepping to the cold fresh air, Wagner took a deep breath. If not for multiple elixirs he’d drunk before coming here, he’d have lost his shit. He’d expected a lot and still, the First Minister surprised him.

Wagner’s constant refusal to let Keynes Kid meet with other powerful figures wasn’t going to remain without an answer. He understood and expected it. Keynes Kid was the only known source of new rifts and the rifts were a source of unlimited power and wealth.

The Dominion of Monsters opened another avenue for those who were unable to delve a rift but it wasn’t enough. For all Wagner knew, the item drop from the dominion monsters was abysmal and facing the hordes of these monsters was quite dangerous and often not worth the risk.

Wagner remained cool, hiding his emotions from the two guards that waited with Kristian at the balcony. It was highly unlikely that either of the men knew what was coming. Even Wagner’s spies were clueless about this. Of course there were speculation and leaks regarding the global summit and peace talks. The third outbreak and the dominion era upset the balance created by the war between the resistance and the Word Government. This strengthened the White Masks that were slowly evolving into the third player with millions of common people supporting their liberation movement. That on its own was going to evoke reaction.

But the offer? This was something else, something more drastic. He didn’t know how to feel about this. To think that they went to such lengths… It was hard to imagine. It may still be a bluff, he reminded himself. They must be desperate at this point.

Wagner pulled at the silks, wrapping them tighter around his waist and chest. It had to be really chilly for him to feel it.

Kristian perked up, seeing his boss. He pushed himself from the stone railing. Wagner had to admit that the view was magnificent at this altitude. Geneva was a gem of a city even now with almost every part of it being rebuilt with higher level materials.

“Sir,” Kristian greeted Wagner with a nod. Unlike Wagner, Kristian wore a sharp suit, now hidden beneath layers of furs that protected the Level 3 from the biting cold.

“Take me home.”

Kristian touched Wagner’s shoulder and both men vanished from the balcony, reappearing in Wagner’s garden.

Kristian was a new employee who helped Wagner move around Geneva unseen. The amount of attention their company generated made it impossible to travel by ordinary means any more. The number of guards had to be increased as well to a very unhealthy level, and Wagner didn’t intend to stop there. He considered building higher walls, hiding the upper side of his house completely. He’d have to find a way to counterbalance the loss of the view from his garden but with current runes and formations nothing was impossible. There was no other way but to turn his beautiful house into a fortress.

“Find me when you’re off cooldown,” Wagner said. He didn’t have any more travel requirements for tonight but he liked to be on top of things.

“Yes, boss.” Kristian turned to go…

“You haven’t levelled up since I’ve left,” said a familiar voice from darkness.

Wagner and Kristian spun toward the source of the voice. Wagner’s walking stick appeared in his hand, snaking roots shot out of it--

A patch of darkness moved, and a hood dropped, revealing Keynes Kid’s face.

Kristian, who didn’t know Keynes’s identity, opened his mouth to call guards. Wagner stopped him.

“It’s okay, Kristian. He’s with me.” Wagner didn’t peel his eyes off Keynes afraid he might vanish again. That boy couldn’t stay in one place for long. Kristian gave Wagner a concerned look but nodded without a protest. Upon leaving the garden, Wagner told him to not tell anyone about this. If the information that Keynes Kid was here leaked out, some fullhardy morons might try to storm Wagner’s estate. Sometimes, it took one daring idiot to spark a fire.

“You’re back,” Wagner said to Keynes, watching him carefully. He wore his dark purple coat, his black hair was longer, his face seemed unchanged albeit tired, but the truth was in Keynes’s eyes. He was through a lot. Of course, Wagner knew enough from Vivena to come to a similar conclusion but seeing it in Keynes’s eyes grounded the knowledge in reality. Speaking of Vivena… She went radio silent over a week ago and didn’t contact him nor show up for the rescue mission, which returned empty handed.

“I am.” Keynes nodded, stepping closer.

Wagner started to relax. Keynes’s presence here spared him many future headaches and issues.

“That’s some timing you have,” Wagner tried to make a joke but there was no humour behind it. “Anyway, there are big changes coming our way. It’s better to have you here when the news lands.”

“I don’t have time to sit idle, Wagner,” Keynes said. “I came to fulfil my obligation. After that, I’ll resume my training.”

“Your obligation?”

“Rifts. It’s time to open a few for you.”

“Haven’t you done that like a week ago?”

“It wasn’t by choice. It was the vision’s doing,” Keynes replied, stone-faced. “I met Shaper there. Right after the outbreak. He saved my life and gave me this.”

Keynes handed a silver sphere to Wagner. Upon seeing the spiritual details of the rift. Wagner whistled. His tired mind woke up from a slumber.

“Epic rarity and mayhem type,” he murmured, while trying to come up with a value the rift held. He failed and realised that no other rift like this existed in the world. Epic rifts on their own could be counted on fingers of two hands. Despite Wagner’s and Columbus’s best efforts they were unable to secure an epic rift.

This rift was a massive boon to their company. It didn’t mean they struggled but their projections weren’t favourable without having access to exceptional rifts. After all, they started the company with Keynes’s ability in mind. For now, they were okay. Wagner had a worldwide monopoly on elixirs and plants. The demand was so massive that they couldn’t meet even half of it. Columbus controlled almost a hundred rifts and some of them had resources needed to create mana containers, which was the best selling item everywhere. But relying on these two sources of income wouldn’t get them far.

Going forward, the issue was about others catching up with them. The Saels possessed unparalleled knowledge about poisons and some of it overlapped with Wagner’s. With [Growth], [Create Plant] and other plant-related spells, it was only a matter of time before other sources of elixirs and valuable plants appeared on the market.

There was also the matter of Columbus’s withdrawal from the resistance’s leadership. He couldn’t and wasn’t going to take all the rifts with him. Either way, they were going to lose a good chunk of their income with Columbus’s departure from the resistance. They neither could rely on Esopp’s wealth as it was being poured into building the training and rift bases in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Somehow, Esopp had managed to buy lands, including entire islands, worth billions of dollars before he left the World Government.

“Will it help?” Keynes asked when Wagner didn’t say anything for a while. “There is one more Level 3 rift which I’d gladly bring here but didn’t have a rift orb to do so.”

“It will.” Wagner put the rift into his dimensional pouch. “We’re doing well now but our advantage over others won’t last forever. They’ll eventually catch up.”

“They won’t,” Keynes shook his head. “How’s the fungi and item crafting?”

“Fungi,” Wagner replied while his forehead creased wildly. “Had a rocky start but they eventually took off. Pucci made me employ someone with the right Talent to cultivate them. Crafting items is a different story. My strategy officers say it is too risky; there are too many item crafters and profits aren’t as substantial as anything else we do.”

Keynes looked away. He stared at Geneva’s business district, his aura undetectable. Wagner tried to check on his Level but saw nothing. How many Levels did Keynes gain during his visit in the World Reserve?

“It looks like your strategy officers are full of shit, Wagner. Item crafting is more than profit margins. It is a path to discovery and development first and foremost. Tribesmen craft most of their items and they aren’t very powerful. But that isn’t how I see it. Only through trial and error can we uncover the secrets of power and there are many.” Keynes turned to Wagner, his eyes full of otherworldly intensity. “You must stop treating this like a balance sheet. Profit is not the most important thing here. I asked you to start researching fungi because the tribesmen had found a way to use them to train their Mind attribute, and they have none of your wealth and manpower. Imagine us finding a way to perfect their methods and maybe learning how to train other attributes more efficiently? Can you put a price tag on something like this? You cannot because we’d never sell something like this to our enemies.”

Wagner had to say that Keynes’s perspective was alien to him. Everything Wagner did was with one aim in mind -- profit. Spending money on something they wouldn’t sell felt … wasteful. This wasn’t the way the world worked.

“Keynes,” he said. “This isn’t as simple as you make it sound. The cost--” Keynes silenced him.

“Don’t you worry about the cost, Wagner. I can open as many Level 4 rifts as you want. And you should know it by now, each Level brings new features. Level 3 has class spells, valuable resources and hidden rooms… Actually, no. The hidden rooms appeared with Level 2 rifts. Level 3 has something there too but I haven’t managed to open it yet.”

Wagner frowned. What is he talking about? Yes, Wagner was aware of class spells and unusual resources found in the rifts, some of them were primitive tools, armours, weapons and garments. But the hidden room? Vivena didn’t mention it. In fact, Wagner had to ask Keynes about her… No. First things first.

“What are the hidden doors? I haven’t heard anything about them.”

Keynes shrugged.

“And I’m not surprised by that judging by your spirit stage. This is how Shaper defeated you three so easy. He used his spiritual aura alone. It is also required to sense any hidden properties within the rift. I guess there will be more of them at the higher Levels.”

Wagner raised his hands. They were getting ahead of themselves.

“Wait, wait. What are you talking about?”

On the other hand, it would explain how Shaper defeated us seemingly without effort. It always bothered Wagner that despite being near the pinnacle of strength, someone like Shaper made a joke out of them. Even Columbus with his insane Talent failed to land as much as a single blow.

“Take a seat,” Keynes said, pointing at the garden seats.

“Here? It is the middle of the night.”

“I like the view.”

Wagner listened to Keynes with a sinking feeling. He was aware that his Levels built out of human essence were much weaker than the rift essence ones but adding to this spirit stages complicated things for him. He didn’t have time to train! He’d rather spend this time expanding their business. Suddenly, he wasn’t so sure of himself. If Keynes had improved so much in a few months, how long would it take for the rest of the world to catch up with Wagner? Even André Turtelli levelled recently, gaining Level 7 with the rift essence. It actually made him stronger than Wagner despite being on the same Level.

He was about to protest and tell Keynes that he could always use rift when Keynes explained to him the notion of spiritual weight. So no, wearing more items and absorbing more spells wasn’t an answer.

“It’s not the kind of reunion I imagined,” Wagner complained, feeling the effects of his elixirs wearing off.

“It’s only getting worse from here. We haven’t talked about Vivena yet, and that’s something you won’t like to hear.”

It was impossible and yet Wagner sensed a headache coming.

“Wonderful.”